Keeping a Character Consistent
The most common real-world requirement — a children's book, a comic, a storyboard, a brand mascot, a product across a campaign — and historically the hardest thing to do. It got dramatically easier in 2026.
In rough order of reliability:
- Dedicated character features. Most major platforms now have an explicit character-reference control: upload two or three images of your subject and reuse them. Use this first if it exists.
- Conversational editing. Generate the character once, then ask for new scenes with "the same person, now sitting on the steps." Chat-based tools hold onto the subject well within a session.
- A very specific written description, reused verbatim. Not "a girl" but "a nine-year-old girl with short curly auburn hair, round tortoiseshell glasses, freckles, a mustard-yellow raincoat." Paste the identical block into every prompt.
- A locked seed plus small prompt changes. Cheap, works only for modest variations, but useful for a set of near-identical shots.
- A character sheet. Generate one image containing the same character from several angles and expressions, then use that single image as your reference for everything afterwards. This is the trick that professional illustrators land on.
Set expectations with clients. Perfect consistency across dozens of images still is not solved. Plan for a retouching pass, and price for it.